Hardship and Love

Consciousness Exploration Journal
10/8/11

I was walking along a four-lane highway in the country. Suddenly two giant “conex” style storage boxes were on the highway and slowly sliding toward me. They were enormous and took up all lanes and shoulders. The whole situation seemed very odd and I immediately realized that I was dreaming. I was excited but I reminded myself to stay calm. It took a bit of effort, but I was able to remember my intent (though I was off on the wording a bit), “I want to talk to somebody.” I tried to rescue the request, “ ... interact with somebody ... that is friendly.” Close enough. I was totally alone on the highway with the boxes in front of me. I waited a bit, but nothing happened. I decided to state a question out loud, “what do these boxes represent?” The answer came quick, though not out loud. It seemed to come to me as data to which I assigned my own words. The message did come through very clearly though, “they represent hardship and love.” I wasn’t expecting such a deep answer. I pondered this for a bit and then decided to ask a second question, “why are they so big?” Unfortunately, I cannot recall what happened next. I vaguely remember asking more questions until eventually the answers stopped coming. Though I don't recall all that took place after this or the other responses, I do remember a very bizarre sensation that occurred during the communication. It was as though I had to open and quiet my mind to allow the communication to come through. I remember being surprised that I knew to do this and that it came so naturally. Eventually, I lost lucidity and at some point the dream shifted to being a night scene in a quite area of a town. The two giant boxes had transformed into old camper trailers. One trailer was being delivered to my dad/father-in-law (the character seemed to switch between the two of them in the dream) and the other was to be delivered somewhere else. 

One success of this event is that I was able to instigate the lucid dream by focusing my intent over the last 5 or 6 days. Another key success is that I was also able to quickly recall my desire to interact with a "being" or character in the dream. More important than both of those results though is the response itself. I was not expecting such a profound reply. The fact that it was unexpected forces me to consider the origin the message. Who or what did it come from? It could of course have bubbled up from some level of my subconscious. Or perhaps it came from something or someone outside of myself. To remain both open-minded and skeptical, all possibilities must be considered. The best I can do is to gather more evidence and eventually form a probable truth.

Character Test

Though I continue to have lucid dreams, sleep paralysis, and out-of-body experiences from time to time, I have reached a point where I find myself driven to step things up a bit. There have been short spells in the past in which I have conducted various tests or experiments within these states. The findings have always been eye opening to say the least. It is time again for some more serious exploring. I have recently started my MFA program (specifically in figurative, representational, oil painting). My tentative thesis and body of work are directly related to my explorations in consciousness and to my resultant findings. At any rate, it seems to be a perfect time for some more focused adventures.

Before discussing the first set of tests, I should explain something to prevent confusion. I have read my fair share of lucid dream and out-of-body related literature. Something that I have come to realize over the years through these readings and through my own experiences is that there are no solid distinctions between lucid dreams and out-of-body experiences. Much of the lucid dream literature is essentially describing out-of-body experiences and much of the out-of-body literature is describing lucid dreams. They are, as far as I am currently concerned, one in the same. The labels themselves and the expectations of the person in question seem to be the key factors that create any notable difference. So, I will frequently use the terms interchangeably or together as “lucid dream/OBE”.

The first set of tests will focus completely on communicating with the characters, beings, people, etc that I encounter in these other states. Over the last few years, I have begun to more seriously consider the notion that some of these characters are in fact sentient and aware beings separate from my own consciousness. Because the potential exists that these various characters/beings may be “real” to some degree or another (outside of my subconsciousness or imagination), I (to the best of my ability) will continue to interact in a respectful manner during all encounters.

The first challenge of course is to instigate the lucid dream/OBE experiences. My basic approach is a mixture of the various techniques that I have found success with over the years. The real secret to instigating these states, as far as my experience goes, is to think about the subject frequently (almost obsessively) and to get plenty of rest. There are other aspects that help as well, but the two noted above are the bulk of the process.

The basic phrasing of my intent for these tests will be: “I wish to interact with a friendly being.” Anytime that I find myself in a lucid dream or OBE, I will clearly express this intent. The word “being” in this case is referring any character, being, person, etc in the experience regardless of their origin (from me or from outside of me). I’m honestly not seeking to answer if they are “real” or not. What I am really seeking are the experiences that follow the question. The best I can do is to form a probable truth based on those experiences and move on from there (all the while expecting that I will have to set that probable truth down at some point and replace it with another one... and so on). Such is the process of growth.